1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle drive apparatus that controls an electrically assisted bicycle. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bicycle drive apparatus that controls a bicycle having an electric motor for riding assistance and a transmission.
2. Background Information
Recently, electrically assisted bicycles that assist riding by supplementing a person's pedaling force with a motor drive force are becoming popular. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-268854 discloses a control enabling the transmission to smoothly conduct a gear shifting operation in an electrically assisted bicycle equipped with a transmission. When a user performs an operation issuing a shift command, the control temporarily stops or decreases an assisting power supplied from a drive assistance motor and resumes the supply of the assisting power after a prescribed amount of time has elapsed. With this control, the transmission can change gears more easily because the gear shifting operation is executed while the supply of the assisting power is stopped or decreased.